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Another Nepali minister quits

KATHMANDU: Nepal's Education Minister Yog Prasad Upadhyaya said on Friday he had resigned from the government, the second minister to quit the eight-month-old Nepali cabinet in one week.

Last Friday, Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya stepped down over differences with Bhattarai over the appointment of the central bank governor.

"I have resigned to make way for younger generation leaders," the 73-year-old Upadhyaya told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai on Upadhyaya's resignation but the Nepali daily Kantipur said Upadhyaya had quit in protest after a younger party leader was appointed deputy prime minister.

Upadhyaya, the most senior member of the cabinet, tendered his resignation on Thursday.

Bhattarai appointed Ram Chandra Poudel, 55, as deputy prime minister on Tuesday in a move to defuse a growing crisis created by Acharya's resignation.

Upadhyaya said he bore no grudges over Poudel's appointment. "It is time that younger people take over," he said.

Bhattarai, who became prime minister in May last year, has been criticised by his own Nepali Congress party for what it says is his failure to implement economic development projects.-Reuters